Minus Twenty Degrees
by Mysteriol
Summary: [postGREV, Kai, Tala friendship] Three years ago, a promise was made. They would meet here at their favorite spot on Tala's birthday, in the snow on Christmas eve.


Post GREV,

 **Minus Twenty Degrees**

i know i haven't wrote for literal years. I am by right in my retirement years. But weeks ago, I visited Russia (moscow! At last!), and this whole entire plot bunny hit me the moment I stepped into the Red Square.

So this kai/tala friendship fic was thus born. I had to get it out of my system before my memory forgets.

x myst

* * *

Moscow always tended to bring the worst, and best of memories, strangely to Kai.

With his gaze kept onto the ground, the blue-haired boy was careful not to let the snow slip from his eyelash into his eyes. He was freezing cold, that was for sure, although years growing up in the abbey here in the harshest of winter in Moscow had trained him for the better. Minus twenty degree celsius out here was nothing, not now at least with his thick black winter coat keeping him at least somewhat warm, and his gloved hands carefully tucked into his pockets.

He _did_ kind of look like a wrapped-up takoyaki ball, though, Kai mused. If Tyson or any of the Bladebreakers did see him here in this state, cocooned in five layers of fur and warmth, he would never live it down. So much for years in his Beyblading career establishing himself with the famed reputation he now earned among his peers and companions.

Still, he _was_ freezing, and _shivering_ incessantly to add.

Kai stopped in his tracks and sighed, his boots stuck inches deep into the dirty, gray snow. He must have been spending too many summers in Tokyo, spoilt by its warmth and heat. When was the last time he had visited this god-forbidden place anyway?

 _Years._

He eyed his surroundings. December 24th, a day before Christmas. Moscow was covered in thick, fat inches of snow, and the downpour of light white powder from the sky never seemed to let up. Barely a soul even where he was standing right now in the reputed Red Square, much less the surrounding streets.

A day before Christmas, where _normal_ people would have much more of a brain than standing out here in the Russian snow freezing their asses off.

Yet here he was.

 _I must be stupid._ Kai stopped and ran a gloved hand through his hair, a frown tinting his lips. _Or an idiot. Or maybe both._

Had he really, literally, booked a last-minute flight from Tokyo to Moscow on an impulsive whim after a memory struck him just seven nights ago?

Kai shuffled on his feet, and stared down at his gloved hands. In it, Dranzer shone in its glory, its fiery tint still unfazed by the Russian winter. He wrapped his fingers around Dranzer, comforted by the warmth. Eyes closed, Kai stared into the sky. A splatter of snow fell onto his forehead, and condensed into droplets that rolled down his cheeks.

The wind picked up; strong, brutal, and _hell,_ it was maliciously cold.

Seven nights ago, he had gone to bed in his Tokyo hotel, tired, mentally exhausted having spent a day at work handling the Hiwatari business his father had passed down to him. After retiring from the beyblading world two years ago, he had gone on to pursue his Master's Degree in Business in Tokyo, and continued to build the empire succeeding his father's Hiwatari Enterprise. Within three years, so much has changed in his life... yet -

Yet that night he had gone home, tossed and turned on his bed, dreaming of the usual days where he used to Beyblade ( _those were by far still his favorite dreams and memories),_ when half-asleep, half-awake, he had risen in bed, and something fleeted through his mind.

A handshake. A face. A memory.

 _"We'll meet again someday, won't we?" The red-haired boy had asked, his hand extended in the snow._

 _Kai had hesitated, although his mind was already made up. He shook the boy's hand. "Someday."_

 _As typical of the taller boy, he had scoffed, "How can I hold you to that?"_

 _"Hn," Kai snorted, "I never break promises."_

 _Their hands never separated, still held in a binding contract._

 _"Christmas eve?" Hope had glimmered in the red-haired boy's eyes._

 _Kai already knew what day it was. Only one person he had known his entire life had his birthday on that exact day the whole world was readying themselves for Christmas._

 _"Christmas eve." Kai replied, subconciously tightening his fingers around the red-haired boy's grip._

 _"Here." The boy had nodded to their surroundings. The white, harsh cold of Moscow._

 _"Here." Kai nodded, his tone dropping to a barely-heard whisper picked up by the cold wind._

 _A handshake, and then no more._

 _"See you in three years, Kai."_

 _And Kai was left to watch the shadow of his old friend disappear into the Russian winter._

 _"See you in three years...Tala." He spoke to no one in particular._

 _That day, the Kremlin had never looked more beautiful albeit the unrelenting cold._

Kai breathed at the memory, now pulling his beloved scarf around his neck tighter - the same scarf that had seen him through most of his Beyblading career - to keep himself warm. Those three years in between had passed like a flash of light. University was a breeze for someone like him. Kai was never one to find studying or staying up late to devour textbooks and lecture notes something particularly difficult. He literally sailed through every Business module, and recently just graduated Summa cum Laude.

Come to think of it, his graduation ceremony was in a couple of months' time next year. Not like anybody would have bothered to turn up to see him receive his scroll. Kai snorted.

 _What the heck._ He was losing it. The cold was freezing his brains. That must be it. Why else would he bothered if anyone cared about him graduating?

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he checked the clock showing on the Kremlin Tower.

Seven more minutes to midnight.

 _God, I feel like Cinderella. Except instead of waiting for a glass slipper to drop, I'm waiting for some stupid idiot to show up that I don't even -_

Kai's ears pricked.

His childhood days in the abbey and his beyblading career after had alerted his senses to the best of their abilities. He never missed something amiss if it was within his radar.

Something had hustled behind him.

Squashing the last bit of hope glinting in his heart, he turned around, his scarf swishing behind him in the wind.

He squinted - it was hard to see anything through this wintry fog that had descended around the Red Square.

 _Oh._

It was just two young girls following their mom, hustling their way to St. Basil's Cathedral. Even in the cruelest of winters, a couple of Moscovites had not shied away from spending Christmas as the Cathedral and making prayers for the year ahead.

Kai stood wordlessly as he watched their shadows fall away into the snow. Something about the way those little girls in their oversized winter coats clinging beseechingly onto their mother for warmth stirred something deep in the bottom of his stomach. Something strange, something foreign.

 _Get a grip, Kai._

Winter, the cold, and Christmas, was making his brains all fuzzy.

He shuffled his feet again. He had this habit of doing that whenever he was restless, or nervous. Now, he was probably abit of both.

He looked at the clock again. One more minute to go.

Now where the hell was that guy?

Irritated, and crushing that tiny feeling of anticipation and hope that had surfaced in the last few minutes leading up to this moment, Kai decided to turn on the spot.

It was certain that idiot wasn't coming. What in the world was he thinking anyway? Flying half way across the world to this cold, freezing place assuming an old friend would remember a promise that was three _frickin'_ years ago. Did he really believe Tala would have recalled that stupid occasion where they shook hands and made a promise before parting ways?

They hadn't even kept in touch, spoke or seen each other since that day.

And it had been more than three hundred and sixty-five days, multiplied by three.

Three _frickin' long years._

Way too long.

 _He probably wouldn't have remembered me by now._ Kai thought harshly. He tuggedd his hands into his pockets, stared hard at the Kremlin clock as the minute hand now ticked closer to twelve, and the bells chimed midnight into the distance.

He allowed himself to breathe.

"Merry Christmas, Kai." He whispered to no one in particular, to himself. If he had made it out here all on his own all the way from Japan, he might as well celebrate it in style, solo, here at the Red Square.

His surroundings was never less beautiful. Something about the Kremlin always captured and took his breath away. Two or three couples were still finding their way to the Cathedral. A few others in the distance were cheering and shouting Merry Christmas to one another.

None seemed particularly bothered about the cold. Kai laughed softly under his breath. Typical Russians.

 _Just like him._ Kai mused.

"You would have thought after three years that the almighty Kai Hiwatari would stop talking and laughing to himself, eh? But who knows."

Kai's heart stopped, his ears pricked, his senses full alert.

He was _pretty_ sure he hadn't said a single sentence since his very own Merry Christmas. So what was that voice resounding in the back of his head? His subconsciousness? His conscience?

"You idiot, are you just gonna stand there all night or turn around where I am?" The voice boomed and continued in the wintry frost.

Kai's heart skipped a beat. That voice. It could only be-

He turned. " _Tala."_

A shadow materialized in the fog. That red hair. No doubt. And that those piercing, endless pools of aqua blueeyes. That frown seemingly, permanently etched to his lips that had barely changed over the years, too skillfully mastered in those harsh years at the abbey where torture and abuse had shaped that smile into non-existence.

Yet still, that voice, that face, that person -

"You idiot. Yes, I am Tala. What are you, twelve?" The red-haired boy snorted, stepping forward and coming into visibility.

They were a few feet apart, separated only by the falling snow.

Kai reminded himself to breathe. His eyes fell on the unmistakable figure.

God, Tala had grown even taller than he last remembered. He was almost two full inches above Kai now.

And still as snide, and sarcastic as ever.

Kai rolled his eyes, reality finally sinking in. "You came." He said flatly, as if his tone could mask it all - the smallest of joy growing in his heart, the hope, the memories. They were all coming full force, and it took him all his will to control and subdue his faltering emotions.

"No shit, Sherlock." Tala replied.

Both said nothing, eyeing each other steadily through the Russian snow. Arms folded, eyes piercing sharp into each other, stance barely showing and revealing any sign of emotions.

The bell chimed midnight away, and the full minute came to a pause.

Enough for Tala to finally put a foot forward and close a smaller distance between them.

"Kai." He spoke the blue-eyed boy's name.

Kai's gloved hands shook in their pockets. When Tala spoke his name like that, everything felt real suddenly. Everything.

The memories growing up together in the abbey, fighting for each other, protecting each other, sheltering each other from Boris' harsh manners and abuse, forging friendships against Boris' rules with other boys in the abbey, getting into trouble together, staying up late and running outside into the cold to find food and hunt down animals, and then growing apart when Kai left and destroyed the abbey... And then years later reuniting with the other Blitzkrieg Boys..

It all felt too real, too emotional, too-

"Shut up, Tal." Kai could only muster at this stage.

 _Tal._ It was his nickname since their abbey days. And only Tala had allowed one person in his life to ever use that abbrievation on him.

This time, it was Kai who took a step forward, furthur closing the distance between them.

Snow continued to pile up in between.

Nobody breathed a word. Nobody dared.

It was as if this moment was too precious to break. A single touch, and the reality would shatter.

Finally, Tala sighed, and shivered, "Well, let's get out of this cold, shall we? I'm freezing here, if you aren't already."

Kai did not budge. "You came."

Tala's eyes bore into his. "So did you, idiot."

"I thought..." Kai breathed, and stopped. "I thought you would have forgotten-"

"What, are you insulting my memory, Kai? After all these years?" Tala chortled, not sarcastically, "I'm Tala Ivanov, not as mighty as the famous Kai Hiwatari, but still somewhat doing alright in terms of memory, eh."

Kai managed a snort, biting down on a chuckle and a small smirk assaulting his lips.

Hell, he had missed _this._

"I should have known better." Kai replied.

"No shit, idiot." Tala rubbed his hands together. Kai noticed he wasn't wearing any gloves. "Now are we getting out of here and getting coffee somewhere or are we just going to stand here all night and mutter bullshit to each other?"

Kai sighed and tried not to roll his eyes. Three years, and nothing could alter this wolfish behavior.

Three steps, was all it took to close the gap between them. Kai threw a punch at Tala, which he knew, after years of familiarity growing up with each other, that Tala would dodge easily.

"Idiot, I'm freezing if you aren't." Tala gripped Kai's hand to prevent the punch from hitting his face.

Kai looked at Tala's pale fingers, nearly numb in the minus temperature. "Only an idiot like you would forget to bring gloves in Moscow, Tal."

"Shut up, Kai, now give me yours," and proceeded to try and steal Kai's gloves away from his fingers.

"Ass, you're buying me coffee." Kai did not protest, and allowed Tala to steal his gloves and wear them. They were the same glove size - he knew that since growing up together. The gloves would fit Tala perfectly.

"So you still like your coffee all black, no sugar?" Tala smirked. "Only someone as bizarre as you would like that bitter shit, Kai."

"And only an idiot like you would drink coffee with literally ten cubes of sugar. Ten." Kai jabbed back.

Amidst exchanging bickering words and arguments, they were already falling into step side by side, towards the nearest cafe, and away from the Krelim.

"Well, as long as you're buying, I don't mind." Tala laughed softly, not the kind of sarcastic, sardonic one Kai was used to hearing him use on his opponents during his Beyblading career, but the sincere, earnest, boyish laugh that only he had the privilege of hearing from Tala himself when he had allowed his closest friends into his personal space.

Kai ribbed him in the side. His knuckles collided with Tala's thick coat.

 _Yup, he had missed this alright._

"Idiot."

And both said nothing after that, scurrying away from the cold, trudging eagerly towards the warmth that awaited them in the cafes ahead and beyond.

Far into the distance, the minute hand of the Kremlin clock moved forward. 12:05am.

"By the way," Kai started, his breaths coming in puffs in the cold, "Merry Christmas, Tal."

Their eyes met in a sideway glance. Tala was quick to break it. Abbey days had made personal contact and emotions still a practically foreign concept to grasp for either of them. Sometimes he had no idea if he was just shy or just truly abhor showing emotions after all those absurd days being told not to reveal anything on the facade during the abbey days.

So Tala just settled for a long gaze into the nearby Starbucks they were reaching up ahead. Never had a sign of a mermaid in a green background been more welcoming than now, and the promise of coffee and more coffee ahead.

"You, too, Kai," Tai said so softly, Kai would have missed it if he hadn't inched forward to catch those words, "Merry Christmas."

Kai knew he would regret saying this afterwards, but he did so anyway, "And I'll buy you coffee. Since it's your birthday too, Tal."

Tala gave him a stare, but Kai didn't miss the smile that was edging its way into those eyes.

Years of growing up had somewhat bred a telepathic kind of bond between the two of them.

Kai understood that look in one glance.

 _You remembered?_

Kai nodded subtly, and stared off into the distance. Yup, abbey boys did grow up awkward with personal conversations and talk and contact. No dispute on that one.

"I'm ordering three cups, with at least twenty-five cubes of sugar," Tala smirked, a grin that never quite reached his face. He held out a hand.

"Deal, Kai?"

In that moment, surrounded by inches and inches of Russian snow, and the clock on the Kremlin Tower fading away into the frosty fog, Kai did not remember any time where he felt warmer than this.

Strange, where in minus twenty degree celsius temperature he should in reality be freezing.

He clutched his hand, and subtly moved it closer to his chest.

But _here,_ it was so damn warm.

His hand moved, closer to Tala's, and enclosed it in a firm handshake.

Similar to the one made three years ago, that both of them kept.

"Deal."

Here in Moscow, Christmas had never been warmer than a minus twenty degree celsius temperature winter.

Not for either of them this year, not for them.

 **FIN**


End file.
